Production degradation

Until 2022, while covering the problems of Russian shipbuilding, I have repeatedly emphasized that the degradation of technical and technological production processes has put an end to a number of opportunities in this Russian industry.

For example, not a single Russian shipyard today is capable of building warships, namely warships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons. That is why, when I heard about the plans of the Russians to build a certain super-aircraft carrier with a displacement of 100 thousand tons, I was covered with uncontrollable laughter, after which I gathered my courage and explained on my fingers why these bravura plans would never come true.

The processes in Russian shipbuilding have become so degraded that they are not even capable of providing timely and high-quality repairs.

For example, the heavy nuclear missile cruiser “Admiral Nakhimov” of project 1144.2M (code “Orlan”), which was sent for repair and modernization in 1997 and continues to undergo them at the Sevmash enterprise, is undergoing endless repairs in Russia. It is difficult to say when it will end, because all the announced deadlines were almost always not observed and postponed.

A similar situation with the aircraft-carrying cruiser “Admiral Kuznetsov”. It is impossible to predict when its repair will be completed, but it can be reasonably assumed that never.

Degradation to the limit

That is, the possibilities for carrying out repair work in the Russian shipbuilding industry have degraded to the limit. And, one way or another, but this is beginning to be recognized in Russia itself. True, in their usual manner.

As you know, on March 24, 2022, the Russian large landing ship “Saratov” was destroyed in the port of temporarily occupied Berdyansk, and two large landing ships “Caesar Kunikov” and “Novocherkassk” were also damaged.

At the same time, I noted that the large landing ships “Caesar Kunikov” and “Novocherkassk” can also be safely attributed to irretrievable losses, since the Russians will not be able to repair the damaged ships.

And now, five months later, in Russia they began to admit their inability to carry out repair work on these large landing ships.

So, in the Russian information space, the narrative is now spreading that it is impossible to return the large landing ships “Caesar Kunikov” and “Novocherkassk” to service because in 2019, for these ships, defective nozzles for diesel engines ZV40/48 and ZL40/48 were purchased in Poland, which broke down, and it is impossible to replace them due to sanctions.

That is, shipbuilding that has not degraded in Russia is to blame , unable to carry out repair work on these BDKs, after being damaged by fire, but the “insidious” Poles. True, the presence of these nozzles on other BDKs did not affect their performance, but only on those that were damaged after hitting the port.

Well, an interesting excuse for their own defectiveness blame it on someone else. Although, this style is historically unchanged for Russia. But the main thing is that you can confidently cross out 2 BDKs from the list, and not put a question mark in front of them.